


The Face at the Window

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23864848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Betty knows she should keep her distance from Archie
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper
Kudos: 21
Collections: The 100 Multifandom Challenge





	The Face at the Window

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eternal_moonie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternal_moonie/gifts).



They should keep their distance, Betty knows that. She’s with Jughead, Archie’s with Veronica, Veronica is her best friend and Jughead is Archie’s. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

(Betty ignores the voice in her head, the one from the day Veronica first started at Riverdale High, when Kevin had made the comment that Barchie was endgame. She hadn’t thought about that in ages; yes, she had had feelings for Archie at that point, but in her head she’d moved on, no one ever brought it up any more, she and Jughead were happy, and apart from those blips where Archie was dating Josie and Veronica was trying to make something work with Reggie, Betty thought they were mostly happy too.)

That argument where Jughead was meant to have been doing his essay on the Salem witch trials and had instead chosen to spend his time looking at those stupid videos with Charles…it should have just blown over. But when Betty was walking away and thinking about it, she’d found herself flashing back to that time back in elementary school where it had looked like Archie was going to have to repeat a year, and Betty had spent so many hours tutoring him trying to get him to the point where he could move up with his friends. Archie had never missed a session, he’d taken it seriously, not letting himself be distracted when Reggie came over trying to get him to play football, and it had bothered Betty that Jughead wasn’t making the same effort. This was high school graduation, and Jughead was taking it less seriously than Archie had taken moving up to third grade.

But then he’d thought about it, had put Betty first, had put his essays first, and Betty started to wonder if she’d made a mistake, if she’d been too quick to get angry, if she should have given him more of a chance. Any other day, if catching up on his work hadn’t been an issue, Betty knows full well she would have been there going through those videos with him, looking for clues, and she possibly wouldn’t have become involved in that fight Archie and Veronica had about her father. Jughead was doing his best now, but Betty was starting to wonder if it could really be enough.

She knows it’s the right thing to do, to carry on as though nothing had ever happened. But if she’s completely honest with herself, she has been thinking about it on and off ever since that time when they were trying to expose Donna and her friends, what things would have been like if Betty and Archie had got together way back when she first brought it up, if there had never been any Betty and Jughead, any Archie and Veronica. People like Cheryl and Kevin hadn’t questioned it when Archie and Betty had pretended to be cheating on Veronica; now Betty wonders if maybe that was because they could see what she hadn’t, that maybe Betty and Archie had had that chemistry all along.

She shouldn’t think about this any more; next time she gets to speak to Archie alone, Betty’s going to tell him it was a mistake, that they should concentrate on their relationships with Archie and Jughead, pretend nothing had ever happened.

Yet as she stands at her window, and sees Archie at his, Betty wonders again whether she’s making the right decision.


End file.
